function

diocesan priest

creed

Latin (Roman Catholic) Church RCmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.09.21]

diocese / province

Gniezno and Poznań archdiocese (aeque principaliter)more on
www.archpoznan.pl
[access: 2012.11.23]

date and place
of death

11.04.1940

KL Stutthofconcentration camp
today: Sztutowo, Sztutowo gm., Nowy Dwór Gdański pov., Pomerania voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.09]

details of death

prisoner camp's numbers

9097Click to display source page (KL StutthofClick to display the description)

cause of death

extermination: murder / exhaustion

perpetrators

Germans

sites and events

KL StutthofClick to display the description, ZL NeufahrwasserClick to display the description, Górna GrupaClick to display the description, VSH SchwetzClick to display the description, Świecie (Institute)Click to display the description, InowrocławClick to display the description, 02.11.1939 arrests (Inowrocław)Click to display the description, «Intelligenzaktion»Click to display the description, Reichsgau Danzig‐WestpreußenClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description

date and place
of birth

21.02.1875

Strumianytoday: Kostrzyn gm., Poznań pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.25]

presbyter (holy orders)
ordination

25.11.1900 (Gnieznotoday: Gniezno urban gm., Gniezno pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18])

positions held

others related
in death

CIEMNIAKClick to display biography Louis, DEMSKIClick to display biography Vladislav, FARULEWSKIClick to display biography Thaddeus, GOTOWICZClick to display biography Louis, KOMPFClick to display biography January, KUBICKIClick to display biography Telesphorus, KUBSKIClick to display biography Stanislav, LUDWICZAKClick to display biography Anthony John, ŁÓJClick to display biography John, MATUSZEWSKIClick to display biography Francis, MĄKOWSKIClick to display biography John, MULLERClick to display biography Joseph Stanislav Kostka, POMIANOWSKIClick to display biography Vladislav, SCHOENBORNClick to display biography Steven, SKOWRONClick to display biography Casimir, STREHLClick to display biography Mieczyslav, SZUKALSKIClick to display biography John, WĄSOWICZClick to display biography Sigismund, WŁODARCZYKClick to display biography Ignatius

sites and events
descriptions

KL Stutthof: In German Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL Stutthof (then in Eastern Prussian belonging to Germany, today: Sztutowo village) concentration camp, that Germans started to build on 02.09.1939, a day after German invasion of Poland and start of the World War II, Germans held c. 110,000‐127,000 prisoners from 28 countries, including 49,000 women and children. C. 65,000 victims were murdered and exterminated. In the period of 25.01‐27.04.1945 in the face of approaching Russian army Germans evacuated the camp. When on 09.05.1945 Russians soldiers entered the camp only 100 prisoners were still there. In an initial period (1939‐1940) Polish Catholic priests from Pomerania were held captive there before being transported to KL Dachau concentration camp. Some of them were murdered in KL Stutthof or vicinity (for instance in Stegna forest). Also later some Catholic priests were held in KL Stutthof. (more on: stutthof.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.11.18], en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.07.06])

ZL Neufahrwasser: Germ. Zivilgefangenenlager (Eng. POW camp for civilians) organized by the Germans on the day of the outbreak of the war, on 01.09. 1939, in Gdańsk ‐ Nowy Port (New Port), in former artillery barracks belonging to Poland, for Poles from Pomerania arrested as part of the «Intelligenzaktion» action — extermination of Polish intelligentsia. Prisoners from ZL Neufahrwasser — 2,702 people were identified, but it is estimated that c. 10,000 arrestees passed through the camp — were sent to the KL Stutthof concentration camp or directly to the places of extermination. The camp operated till 01.04.1940 (more on: stutthof.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.10], ofiaromwojny.republika.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.04])

Górna Grupa: From 10.1939 till approx. 04.1940 in Górna Grupa in Divine Word Missionaries SVD congregation house Germans organised — as part of «Intelligenzaktion», extermination of Polish intelligentsia in Pomerania — a transit camp for Poles, including 95 priests, from Świecie, Bydgoszcz, Chełmno, Grudziądz and Starogard Gdański counties. Approx. of them perished, including 17 that were subsequently executed in Mnichek‐Grupa. In the same place in 1945 Russians set up a concentration camp for Germans, among whom two priests perished. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19], www.kpbc.ukw.edu.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.27])

VSH Schwetz: German Germ. Volksdeutscher Selbstschutzhaft (Eng. Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz custody) VSH founded in 09.1939 by the genocidal German paramilitary organization Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz in Świecie nad Wisłą. The decision to create Selbstschutz in the Polish lands occupied by German troops was made in Berlin on 08‐10.09.1939 at a conference headed by Reichsführer‐SS Heinrich Himmler (the formal order bears the date 20.09.1939), and the chaotically formed units were directly subordinated to the officers of the genocidal SS organization. The Germans captured Świecie on 03.09.1939. As part of the «Intelligenzaktion», i.e. the extermination of Polish intelligentsia and leadership classes, arrests of local Poles began immediately. The victims were imprisoned and held in terrible conditions in the cells of the court prison in Świecie, empty pavilions of the National Pomeranian Psychiatric Institution (especially after 22.10.1939, when the Germans murdered most of its patients as part of «Aktion T4»), distillery buildings in Luszkówko, prison cells in Nowe nad Wisłą and in the buildings of the Divine Word Missionaries institute in Górna Grupa. They were subjected to torture and harassment. From c. 08‐09.10.1939 mass executions began — the day before the first execution in Świecie, the Germ. Gauleiter (Eng. district governor) of the German National Socialist Party NSDAP in Gdańsk, later the Germ. Reichsstatthalter (Eng. Reich Governor) of the Germ. Reichsgau Danzig–Westpreußen (Eng. Reich District Gdańsk–West Prussia), appeared and called on all local Germans to strictly carry out the orders, adding „even if it meant bathing in blood up to the necks” — i.a. at the Jewish cemetery in Świecie, as well as in the forests near the village of Mniszek and the military training ground in the village of Grupa. Dozens of Catholic priests passed through the prison, of whom c. 50 died: 20 were murdered by the Germans in Mniszek, and the rest perished in German concentration camps. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19])

Świecie (Institute): In the autumn of 1939 Germans— as part of «Aktion T4» program — murdered almost all patients of the National Pomeranian Psychiatric Institute in Świecie. On 15‐21.10.1939 c. 1,000 patients were murdered in the forest by Mniszek village, in groups of 60. Among the victims were 120 children. And hospital’s Polish director, Joseph Bednarz PhD, who stayed with his patients till the end. The victims were pushed — three aside — into specially prepared ditches and shot by the members of the genocidal German SS‐Wachsturmbann „Eimann” unit from machine guns. C. 300 patients were transported to Kocborowo psychiatric hospital and murdered later in Szpęgawsk forest. (more on: ipn.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.05.09])

Inowrocław: German prison and detention center at Pakoska Str. (today Narutowicza Str.). In 1939, the Germans held there hundreds of Poles from Inowrocław and the surrounding area, arrested as part of the «Intelligenzaktion» program — the physical extermination of the Polish intelligentsia and leadership classes. By 11.1939, 546 of them were murdered in the prison and the surrounding area (e.g. in Rożniaty and Zajezierze), including 56 people on the night of 22‐23.10.1939, the murder carried out after the collective libation of the Germans, which the German landrat, i.e. the occupying district official, a certain Hirschfeld, was said to have initiated by saying: „well, now we will go and shoot the Poles”. Later, it was also a place of execution for many Poles. After the Russian occupation began in 1945, the communist prison, also for women. (more on: www.inowroclawfakty.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19])

02.11.1939 arrests (Inowrocław): On c. 01.11.1939 Germans „invited” local priests from Inowrocław and vicinity for a meeting on 02.11.1939 to „discuss terms and condition of collaboration with new authorities”. All present — 39 priests — were arrested on the spot and sent to concentration camps and execution sites.

«Intelligenzaktion»: (Eng. „Action Intelligentsia”) — extermination program of Polish elites, mainly intelligentsia, executed by the Germans right from the start of the occupation in 09.1939 till around 05.1940, mainly on the lands directly incorporated into Germany but also in the so‐called Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate) where it was called «AB‐aktion». During the first phase right after start of German occupation of Poland implemented as Germ. Unternehmen „Tannenberg” (Eng. „Tannenberg operation”) — plan based on proscription lists of Poles worked out by (Germ. Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen), regarded by Germans as specially dangerous to the German Reich. List contained names of c. 61,000 Poles. Altogether during this genocide Germans methodically murdered c. 50,000 teachers, priests, landowners, social and political activists and retired military. Further 50,000 were sent to concentration camps where most of them perished. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.10.04])

Reichsgau Danzig‐Westpreußen: After the Polish defeat in the 09.1939 campaign, which was the result of the Ribbentrop‐Molotov Pact and constituted the first stage of World War II, and the beginning of German occupation in part of Poland (in the other, eastern part of Poland, the Russian occupation began), the Germans divided the occupied Polish territory into five main regions (and a few smaller). The largest one was transformed into Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), intended exclusively for Poles and Jews and constituting part of the so‐called Germ. Großdeutschland (Eng. Greater Germany). Two were added to existing German provinces. From two other separate new provinces were created. Vistula Pomerania region was one of them, incorporated into Germany on 08.10.1939, by decree of the German leader Adolf Hitler (formally came into force on 26.10.1939), and on 02.11.1939 transformed into the Germ. Reichsgau Danzig‐Westpreußen (Eng. Reich District of Gdańsk‐West Prussia) province, in which the law of the German state was to apply. The main axis of the policy of the new province, the territory of which the Germans recognized as the Germ. „Ursprünglich Deutsche” (Eng. „natively German”), despite the fact that 85% of its inhabitants were Poles, was Germ. „Entpolonisierung” (Eng. „Depolonisation”), i.e. forced Germanization. C. 60,000 Poles were murdered in 1939‐1940, as part of the Germ. „Intelligenzaktion”, i.e. extermination of Polish intelligentsia and ruling classes, in c. 432 places of mass executions — including c. 220 Polish Catholic priests. The same number were sent to German concentration camps, from where few returned (over 300 priests were arrested, of whom c. 130 died in concentration camps). C. 124,000‐170,000 were displaced, including c. 90,000 to the Germ. Generalgouvernement. Poles were forced en masse to sign the German nationality list, the Germ. Deutsche Volksliste DVL. Polish children could only learn in German. It was forbidden to use the Polish language during Catholic Holy Masses and during confession. Polish landed estates were confiscated..To further reduce the number of the Polish population, Poles were sent to forced labor deep inside Germany. The remaining Poles were treated as low‐skilled labor, isolated from the Germans and strictly controlled — legally, three or three of them could only meet together, even in their own apartments. Many were conscripted into the German Wehrmacht army. After the end of hostilities of World War II, the overseer of this province, the Germ. Reichsstatthalter (Eng. Reich Governor) and the Germ. Gauleiter (Eng. district head) of the German National Socialist Party, Albert Maria Forster, was executed. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2024.06.24])

Pius XI's encyclicals: Facing the creation of two totalitarian systems in Europe, which seemed to compete with each other, though there were more similarities than contradictions between them, Pope Pius XI issued in 03.1937 (within 5 days) two encyclicals. In the „Mit brennender Sorge” (Eng. „With Burning Concern”) published on 14.03.1938, condemned the national socialism prevailing in Germany. The Pope wrote: „Whoever, following the old Germanic‐pre‐Christian beliefs, puts various impersonal fate in the place of a personal God, denies the wisdom of God and Providence […], whoever exalts earthly values: race or nation, or state, or state system, representatives of state power or other fundamental values of human society, […] and makes them the highest standard of all values, including religious ones, and idolizes them, this one […] is far from true faith in God and from a worldview corresponding to such faith”. On 19.03.1937, published „Divini Redemptoris” (Eng. „Divine Redeemer”), in which criticized Russian communism, dialectical materialism and the class struggle theory. The Pope wrote: „Communism deprives man of freedom, and therefore the spiritual basis of all life norms. It deprives the human person of all his dignity and any moral support with which he could resist the onslaught of blind passions […] This is the new gospel that Bolshevik and godless communism preaches as a message of salvation and redemption of humanity”… Pius XI demanded that the established human law be subjected to the natural law of God , recommended the implementation of the ideal of a Christian state and society, and called on Catholics to resist. Two years later, National Socialist Germany and Communist Russia came together and started World War II. (more on: www.vatican.vaClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2023.05.28], www.vatican.vaClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2023.05.28])

Pius XI's encyclicals: Facing the creation of two totalitarian systems in Europe, which seemed to compete with each other, though there were more similarities than contradictions between them, Pope Pius XI issued in 03.1937 (within 5 days) two encyclicals. In the „Mit brennender Sorge” (Eng. „With Burning Concern”) published on 14.03.1938, condemned the national socialism prevailing in Germany. The Pope wrote: „Whoever, following the old Germanic‐pre‐Christian beliefs, puts various impersonal fate in the place of a personal God, denies the wisdom of God and Providence […], whoever exalts earthly values: race or nation, or state, or state system, representatives of state power or other fundamental values of human society, […] and makes them the highest standard of all values, including religious ones, and idolizes them, this one […] is far from true faith in God and from a worldview corresponding to such faith”. On 19.03.1937, published „Divini Redemptoris” (Eng. „Divine Redeemer”), in which criticized Russian communism, dialectical materialism and the class struggle theory. The Pope wrote: „Communism deprives man of freedom, and therefore the spiritual basis of all life norms. It deprives the human person of all his dignity and any moral support with which he could resist the onslaught of blind passions […] This is the new gospel that Bolshevik and godless communism preaches as a message of salvation and redemption of humanity”… Pius XI demanded that the established human law be subjected to the natural law of God , recommended the implementation of the ideal of a Christian state and society, and called on Catholics to resist. Two years later, National Socialist Germany and Communist Russia came together and started World War II. (more on: www.vatican.vaClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2023.05.28], www.vatican.vaClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2023.05.28])

sources

personal:
www.wtg-gniazdo.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.11.23], www.opatrznosc.gda.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.01.13]
bibliographical:
„Martyrology of the Polish Roman Catholic clergy under nazi occupation in 1939‐1945”, Victor Jacewicz, John Woś, vol. I‐V, Warsaw Theological Academy, 1977‐1981